Creator's Block

Creator’s Block comes to you this week with a heavy heart. It’s with all the best intentions that we have decided to take a break from producing the podcast. We have loved sharing this experience with you and being able to share the good, the bad, and the ugly with you, but right now it’s time for a change.  So what better way to send off CB than with the originator, the queen of content herself, Liz Moorehead. Listen in as we look back at some of our favorite memories and learning experiences through the years and of course one final *secret question time*.

My friend and colleague recently published an article that shared her deeply personal story about experiencing a miscarriage. I was moved. I had goosebumps the entire time I was reading, teared up when she mentioned what it felt like first learning she lost the baby and outwardly shook my head at learning how so many baby-planning apps and websites seemed blind to such a large demographic of women. I personally have not experienced what my friend has. And yet, I was still able to connect with her as a reader and was able to better understand her opinions on app-related UX... all because she shared her personal story. Personal stories draw people in and can be such a powerful tool in marketing. Readers, listeners or viewers can connect with you on a deeper level, building trust and -- ultimately -- a relationship with you and your business. In this week's episode, Marcella and I dive into why and how sharing personal stories can be so powerful.

Even though I've talked about the importance of reading in past episodes, the practice hasn't always been perfect. I find my days are filled with with more meetings than I anticipate each week and can truly only dive into a book over the weekends.  What I've been doing instead, though, is filling the cracks of my days with words. When I find I have 15 minutes in between calls or meetings, I grab a nearby book or pull up Medium articles to find a topic that peaks my interest.  The latest to do so? "What Is Emotional Website Design?" by Abigail Stock In it, she notes that 95% of consumer decisions are made subconsciously. That is a crazy statistic! But, is there a way to still influence buyers even in their subconscious?  Stock goes on to cite Don Norman and his book Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things. "The essential premise is that emotions have a crucial role in the human ability to understand the world and learn new things. In reality, all design is emotional, whether intentional or not; the trick is in shaping the user’s emotional response to the benefit of your product or service." The concept is simple -- tapping into consumers' emotions can help position your product or service as the superior choice when buying. In this week's episode, Marcella and I break down how that's possible and why it's so important companies keep this front of mind when redesigning their websites.

New year, new me mantra. That’s right. This year it’s just the same old me. I’m not doing my usual New Years' resolutions and here’s why. 2019 was a rough year for me. I had a lot on my plate and even more pressure that I put on myself. It was hard and most importantly it didn’t help my personal growth. So, this year I’ve decided to give myself a well-deserved break. Not a break in the sense of a gap year or not challenging myself, but a break in being so hard on myself. The first step towards this:

I feel like I blinked and 2019 is already over. Wasn't I just celebrating getting engaged and enjoying a trip to Mexico? Certainly feels like it... As we're all entering a new decade, it hit me that I'm also entering the second decade of my career. That is crazy to me! The last 10 years have flown by, but have also seemed to linger forever. As a bright-eyed 22 year old, I had so many big goals of everything I wanted to accomplish in the first 10 years of working. For instance, I wanted to be named as one of Forbes' 30 Under 30 and nearly triple my starting salary. (Spoiler alert: I wasn't and I didn't.) I often fell victim to the comparison game and would feel down on myself for not being able to achieve something in the arbitrary time I set for myself. But as the years continued on, I changed jobs, changed roles and -- frankly -- changed priorities. What really defines success in your career? To some, it's money. To others, it's awards and recognition. To me? It's being able to have an impact on others' lives.  Join Marcella and I as we discuss looking inward to determine how we measure success in our careers and why it's so important to do so.

With the impending holiday and the time away from the office that may require I know I am not alone in saying I am feeling stressed out, under water, and *pause for dramatic effect* burnt out. Every morning I wake up and will myself to be as productive as possible just to make it through the day, but turns out this may just be part of the problem. Professor Christine Seifert writes, “A productivity mindset is … problematic when the relentless quest for it results in burnout. Studies show that putting in too many hours is bad for our health, bad for the bottom line, and bad for workplace cultures in general.” But our jobs rely on the bottom line. On results. On revenue. So, what can we really do? Join Justine and I as we chat about adopting an anti-productivity mindset and how to implement it.

Marcella and I have found ourselves in the endless round of design revisions on a recent project. I, acting as a project manager, have fallen short in getting to the root of what the client truly needs.  And because of that, Marcella has spent weeks trying to get one particular element "just right." It got me thinking... what could I have done from the start to ensure I knew exactly what to relay to Marcella to update?  I found a recent article that dives into this very topic where the author provided actionable steps to take to make clients feel heard while still maintaining creative integrity. In this week's episode, Marcella and I breakdown the 10 tips and share our own insight, especially on one item that both took us by surprise.

We've covered a lot of different ways on how to re-ignite the creativity flame or find inspiration when the well seems to be dry, but this seems to be one way we have yet to discover. The answer is simple: PLAY!  Designer, Drory Ben-Menachem, was inspired to bring the idea of playing into his routine after watching his young child grow and explore through play. His article "Why We Should Play at Work: Embracing play in our creative field can make us happier and more productive" talks about the benefits the incorporating more fun/creative/exploratory time into our jobs not only for us as happier employees, but in the outcomes those sessions will influence. Join Justine and I, as we delve into what it looks like bring a little more play into all of our days!

At the beginning of October, I created a goal for myself to have more time available for me to read and research business-related articles and books. Why? Because leaders are readers. It should come as no surprise then that I learned this in a book called Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...and Why the Rest Don't by Vern Harnish. In it, he talks about how Larry Page, the former CEO of Google, "was asked how he learned to run a company, he responded 'I read a lot.'" And how Marc Cuban reads three hours every day, with the goal to find "just one idea he can use to give him and the over 150 companies in which he's invested an edge in the marketplace." As Harnish wrote, "having a natural curiosity and thirst for learning separates the good from the great in our experience." Now, I'm no Larry Page or Marc Cuban, but that doesn't mean I can't take some of their best practices and apply it to my own day-to-day.  Hence why my Tuesday afternoons have now turned into a dedicated time for me to read. During my time this week, I came across an article by Thomas Oppong titled "To Become More Efficient, Ask Better Questions." I immediately dove in. His approach is intriguing and honestly, not all that difficult. Essentially, you should be asking yourself better questions that can then lead to better and stronger results. Questions like: What specific outcomes do I want more of? Am I working too long or too short of a time for certain tasks? Am I trying to be more effective (i.e., doing the right things) or more efficient (i.e., doing things right)? When do I have the most energy? What 1–3 things would I like to have done (today, this week, this month, this quarter, this year) Each of those questions can help you come to realizations or ideas on how to be more productive and improve your efficiency. In this week's episode, Marcella and I share our opinions on the subject and brainstorm how we can apply these questions to aspects of our days.

Here at IMPACT, we produce a lot of content (and I mean A LOT) so I can't always consume every single thing we do. But the one thing I absolutely cannot miss each week is The Latest. The Latest is our hand-curated marketing-insights newsletter where I know I'm going to get a hit list of the top topics our IMPACTers and marketing community have been discussing throughout the week. So when I saw "Agency Outsourcing Is Broken" as the start of the subject line in one of the newsletters last week, I knew it was going to be good. The article linked was one written by Marcus Sheridan where he talks about why we need to rethink the relationship between client and agency. I. Was. Hooked. (And I wasn't the only one...) What Marcus says in his article is somewhat controversial but ultimately boils down to a single point: "When you own your content creation, you own the soul of your business." All too often, clients think they can outsource ALL of the marketing efforts to an agency and expect to see huge results when the reality is, they themselves need to own a big portion of their own efforts. After all, aren't clients the true experts in their business? Join Marcella and I as we dive into the biggest misconception clients fall victim to when working with agencies and what they can do differently to see the success the need.

Can you imagine your life without a car? For most of us, it seems impossible. Of course there are large cities with quality public transportation systems, but I'm sure the 85% of Americans that commute to work by car probably couldn't imagine it being different. This wasn't always the case, though. When the first "vehicle powered by a gas engine" was patented in 1886, there wasn't the vast majority of people who would claim the invention to be a necessity.   In fact, this often is the case with new technology. More times than not, new technology is met with fear. Does our fear for new technology stunt its possibility? It's unrealistic to just "let go" of your fear of the unknown so how can we use fear to help drive better designs? Join Marcella and I as we dive into the affect fear can have on technology designs and how we can channel that emotion for good.

I’m back from vacation at the beach and feeling super relaxed and well rested… she said through clenched jaw. It’s the week after a vacation and LDW and I feel anything but relaxed (I’m sure many of you can relate). Work is quickly piling up and I’m struggling to barely keep my head above water. Under the weight of the impending doom I turned to Medium, as I often do, to see a shining beacon of hope “How To Really Win The Afternoon”. As I started reading, I quickly realized this was not the kind of help I was looking for, stating that “powering through is the worst thing you can do.”  But what is that’s exactly what I HAVE to do. Join Justine and I as we attempt to figure out how to get through this short week without totally losing our minds.

We’ve talked about purposeful website design before, but there is more to a great website than just a functional design. There are many strategic components that go into a great website that are simple yet efficient changes anyone can implement. Getting out of your own head, and thinking like your user is always a great place to start. What do they want from my website? What is the next logical step for them? How is my content speaking to their problems? How are they finding me? By focusing on your messaging, conversation path, on page SEO, and your content overall you can significantly improve the experience your users have with you website without touching the design of the site itself. In other words: theses are things you can do yourself. Join Justine and I as we talk about the simple oversights we see daily that could really improve the return you are seeing from your website. ...and if you need some help viewing your own site through a critical lens, reserve your own live website throwdown for free at the IMPACT Booth in Club INBOUND!

My dad is retiring from his job of nearly 32 years. As my brother, mother and I sat around brainstorming ideas on what to get him as a congratulations present, we kept circling back to the Amazon Echo and its accessories. Now, my dad has a serious love/hate relationship with Alexa.  He loves that he can ask her to play pretty much any song at drop of a hat, but hates when she doesn't understand what he says and some of her other limitations.  He doesn't just use the voice interface enough, so we ultimately decided against another Alexa product. But the whole situation got me thinking about how I interact with voice and what the future for it holds. According to Adobe, 91% of brands are already making significant investments in voice and of those, 71% see voice as improving the user experience. I, like most people, tend to utilize a voice interface with my more tactical, day-to-day tasks: Driving directions Phone calls Texts Checking the weather Playing music But if voice is truly going to make an impact, it needs to be able to adapt to the more complex items like online banking or booking travel. So, how can we ensure the growth of voice interface? Through design. Join Marcella and I as we dive into our thoughts on developing and using a voice interface and the obstacles many marketers will face.

When looking to improve ourselves, we often focus on the good habits we should strive to have to build or own success. But, sometimes it can be tricky to really outline what that looks like. This article by Darius Foroux makes that a little easier by looking at what things we should actually avoid to be more successful. When I started reading his list I was looking at it from a career perspective, but part of what this helped me realize is that it’s not just about shaping your career. If you shape your life in a way that sets you up to be a better, more well-rounded person, that really helps you succeed in all aspects of your life. Join Justine and I as we discuss these 10 habits to avoid!

In the nearly three years I've been at IMPACT, I've experienced four different company structures. The latest iteration just launched last week where we moved individuals into teams based on their roles, with the intention to allow for a better learning environment and career advancements. Personally, I'm excited for this restructure but I'm not naive in thinking it will go perfect and smoothly over the next several weeks (even months).  As agencies continue to grow, company restructuring is inevitable. What worked for us when I was hired on as employee (approximately) number 23 doesn't work for us as an agency of 65+ people. And what currently works may not as we continue to hire, which means additional organization structures are bound to happen. This week, I had Director of Client Services Katie Pritchard join me to talk about how to survive a company restructure.  Listen in and let us know your best tips!

As we all know Monday’s typically go one of two ways for me. Either I’m super productive or riding leading the struggle bus. Today, with a much overdue blog post and a growing list of tasks at hand found myself unfortunately in the latter scenario. So, I did what I always do when I’m in a rut… turn to medium for help. Being attracted to all things Minimalist, I found myself on an article by Jennifer Chan, entitled “How Minimalism Fosters Productivity”.  When I clicked in I expect a list of quick “hacks” I could do to my workspace to create a more work-conducive, minimal environment, but I was pleasantly surprised when it was more about changing HOW you actually work. Chan outlines the four main groups in which we should aim to reduce. Less Choice. Less Tools. Less Friction. Less Urgency. Join Justine and I as we discuss the ways to create more “space” in our workload and increase productivity.

I can't even begin to tell you how often I've seen -- or been stuck in -- "Empty Promise Purgatory" as a marketer. Let me know if this sounds familiar. You and your boss come up with a killer marketing strategy and seem completely aligned in what you need to do in order to get it done and see the leads roll in. At some point in the strategizing though, she or he says they need final approval on items -- and I mean any item. It could be something as small as the color of CTA buttons or as complex as the pricing page content, but regardless, your boss needs to review and approve before the item goes live. Unfortunately, though, your boss -- who has countless other priorities and initiatives -- is not as available as you originally thought and does not seem to dedicate the time needed to approve the items you (and possibly your agency partner) have worked so hard on. What then tends to happen? Nothing. That's right -- nothing goes live; the leads don't come rolling in. This is what I like to call the Empty Promise Purgatory in marketing. And we've all been there before! You feel defeated, frustrated and like your energy is wasted. In this week's episode of Creator's Block, Marcella and I dive into how you can better align with your boss to become unstuck and make your way to marketing heaven.

The word "perfect" may not mean much to some people, but for those like me (a perfectionist to the core) it can be paralyzing. I have struggled most of my life with striving for perfection in many ways. When it comes to my work as a designer we often use the term "pixel perfect", but striving for perfection can actually stunt achievement and growth. In an article I recently read by Thomas Oppong, he describes perfection as "an endless productivity loop." It can actually hinder the creative process and compromise your work. The desire to keep reworking an idea often stems from self-doubt or second-guessing your ideas. This ultimately could dampen your boldest, brightest ideas without giving them a proper exploration. Join Justine and I this week as we discuss why the search for perfection truly is a detriment to the creative process and how to get around it!

Over the past several months, IMPACT has fully embraced the They Ask, You Answer model and all client-facing employees have been educating clients on the practice because, frankly, it works. Ultimately, it boils down to producing content that answers your prospects and customers questions.  To help our clients succeed, we've grown our consulting side of services to empower clients to improve their marketing and sales alignment and rely less on outsourcing work to a marketing agency. Because of this, some of our relationships with clients have changed over the past couple months. This made me think, when is the right time to re-evaluate your agency-to-client relationship and -- in some cases -- agree to part ways? In today's episode, Marcella and I discuss this very question and give examples of when you will want to consider breaking up with a client for the better good of both parties.

Many of you have probably figured out by now that the goings on inside my head are generally utter chaos. This is part of what makes me the complete organizational/neat freak (read: control freak) that I am. Growing up (especially through my college years) I started to become acutely aware of how much I was being distracted by my own thoughts. It wasn’t Facebook, TV, or video games that was drawing me away from my responsibilities. In fact, it was fears, thoughts, and anxieties about my other responsibilities. Once I figured this out, one of the first things that helped me tremendously was taking notes and especially making lists. If I was trying to focus on something and another thought invaded my head, instead of giving it its day in court right then and there I would quickly jot it down. Knowing that it was written down, to be reviewed later my brain would let me get back to the task at hand. Over the years my different practices to control my thoughts have evolved and changed, each of them helping me in their own way. I have used brain dumps creatively but hadn’t really thought of them as an organizational technique until I read this article by Thomas Oppong. Thomas defines a brain dump as, “...a time to organi[z]e everything on your mind: your worries, questions, needs, wants, important and urgent tasks, and everything on your mind.”  So join Justine and myself as we take a look at the brain dump technique and how it might help us in our day to day.

I’ve heard it over and over again that 2019 is the year of self care, which I honestly think is great. More people need to make their own well being a priority. I’ll say it again for the people in the back: more people need to make their own well being a priority.   To some people (read: me) self care means face masks, bubble baths, and a glass of malbec. To others it means spending more quality time with your family, friends, or pets. But one thing seems universal: the need to spend less time grinding and more time enjoying.   How do we do this when we are told to idolize the hustle? Told to follow the grind wherever it leads us? Told that we are only successful if we put everything we have into our work?   Over the last few years we have fallen victim to what is now being called “hustle culture”. Hustle culture is the societal standard that you can only succeed by exerting yourself at max capacity professionally. Everyday. Hustle culture does not sleep. Hustle culture does not take lunch breaks. Hustle culture is waking up Saturday morning and making spreadsheets instead of pancakes.   Hustle culture does not take into account what your goals in life really are. So join Justine and I as we discuss hustle culture and how we avoid the trap it sets.

Last week our VP of Sales, Brie Rangel wrote an awesome article called “The Toxic Myth of "Fearless" Leadership”. (Which, if you haven’t read it yet, you totally should. In it she talks about the pressure to appear “fearless” in the face of stress, change, and adversity, particularly in a role of leadership. Brie writes, “...leaders are often expected to present an air of fearlessness. We’re supposed to show no signs of weakness or worry. Basically, we’re supposed to be robots. But that's not real life. If we continue embrace fearless leadership as an ideal, we're setting ourselves up for failure. Fearless leadership doesn’t exist.” But this got me thinking. The pressure to be fearless isn’t just found in leadership. It’s literally everywhere. Many of us face the pressure to put on a brave face and tackle our problems head on daily. But Brie is totally right, we’re not robots it’s unrealistic. If I know anything about myself, it’s that in times of stress or struggle, if i’m not being mindful about how I really feel, I bottle up my emotions. I bottle them up and store them aware in the farthest recesses of my mind until I have no more room to bottle and inevitably have a melt down. This is not healthy, but this is reality. Somewhere along the way I learned this as a coping mechanism and I have had to put in a lot of work on myself (therapy, meditation, reading self-help books, practices of gratitude) to make sure I didn’t continue down this road. I say this because on of the things I believe got me to that point was the pressure to appear fearless, or like no matter what’s going on I have it all figured out. I don’t have it all figured out. Nobody does. And to express that you are stressed, or nervous, or unsure of something doesn’t make you a less competent or less confidant leader or coworker or mom or friend. It makes you human. So today we’re gonna break this down a little bit and talk about how it not only affects being a leader, but how it affects the whole team.

Here at IMPACT, we work in an agile system -- inspired pretty heavily on Spotify's model -- and have gone through some cross-team restructuring over the past year. Because of this, a lot of IMPACT employees have questioned exactly how their performance is being judged and measured. IMPACT Founder and CEO Bob Ruffolo provided context to help give a little more guidance: "My advice: Be the person on your team that your teammates say 'don’t take them off my team, we don’t want to lose them! They’re too valuable to the team!' That’s the ultimate judge of performance, and that’s ultimately your job description, to be a valuable member of the team." Though I really appreciated his response, it led to some additional questions on how do we define "valuable." Defining what "valuable" means is pretty subjective per person and per team.  In today's 100th episode of Creator's Block Marcella and I discuss exactly what makes an invaluable team member and provide tips to improve on those skillsets and traits so your teammates will never say, "it's OK if they are moved to a different team."

Last week, I enjoyed a couple days in the Connecticut office to immerse myself in an all-day training about World-Class Communication -- led by the one and only Marcus Sheridan.  Every concept covered was so enlightening to me but one that particularly stood out was all about feedback. Marcus referenced one of my favorite books I read in 2018, Radical Candor, and challenged me by asking whether or not I ask for feedback from my team. I sat a little more upright and proudly responded "yes, I ask almost every week." When he followed up his question with "and how often do they give you challenging feedback," I realized it was not very often. On a surface level, you may think that's great! My team doesn't have any issues with the way I coach so I must be the most perfect manager ever. Right? Wrong. The reality is, I don't ask them effective enough questions to warrant them giving me direct feedback. Marcus went on to say that it was not only important for me to receive feedback so I can continue to grow, but that it was just as important for my team to see how I react when receiving feedback so they can continue to grow. Learning how to receive feedback well can be difficult and it wasn't until I started reading Thanks for the Feedback: The Science and Art of Receiving Feedback Well by Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen that I realized I am not as open to receiving feedback as I thought I was. In today's episode, Marcella and I breakdown the three different types and purposes of feedback and discuss how you can dig deeper to understand the reasoning behind the feedback you're receiving.

Happy New Year, everyone! It’s no surprise at this point that I have been doing a boatload of work on myself over the last year and I intend to keep going with this. I’ve been building out a library of books and workbooks all designed to get to the best version of myself. I have never been huge on new year’s resolutions, but this year it feels different. I have a different skill set now and am better equipped to figure out how to forge a path and manifest my goals. So, for the first time since maybe I was a young adolescent, I sat my butt down on New Years Eve with a bunch of markers and a notepad and wrote. I actually wrote a list of resolutions. Yes, it’s kind of dorky and old fashioned, but I truly feel this is the best way to keep myself accountable. Once things are out of my head and into the universe in a tangible way then I’m forced to face them head on. Today, I thought it would be fun for Justine and I to chat about our 2019 resolutions and how we intend to achieve them. Justine’s 2019 Resolutions Improve time management / balance Reduce anxiety / improve stress management Take regular lunch breaks! Opt outside Have the highest performing team Have the happiest team Take part in a mentorship/coaching program Plan my wedding! Marcella’s 2019 Resolutions To have more patience. Have a healthy relationship with the gym. Meditate Regularly (2 or 3 times a week). Read and write more. Follow a budget. Focus on the big picture. Stress. Less. Be kinder to myself.

  The end of the year always tends to be a time for some self reflection; a time when we look at what we’ve accomplished or learned over the last year. So, Justine and I thought it would be a good idea to make a list of the 18 lessons we learned in 2018! Join us for our final episode of the year as we count down the hard (and not so hard) lessons we've learned through the last 525,600 minutes.  Justine’s Lessons Learned in 2018 Communicating effectively with colleagues and clients The need to say no Having a pet at home really DOES help with stress Managing people is hard but when they succeed, it’s the best Growing a business is tough Close down apps to help yourself focus Therapy isn’t scary My passion… is helping people! Connecting with people in person cannot be replaced Marcella’s Lessons Learned in 2018 How to give up control Meditation really does something You don’t need to have a perfect picture of your future Know when you can actually multi-task vs. not I actually prefer working from home full time Sometimes you have to work till 10, get over it Podcasting (and putting myself out there in general) isn’t as scary as I thought (I made it through my first year!) How to listen to your intuition; what your body, mind, and soul need from you Writing can be fun Happy holidays, we'll see you in 2019!

The holiday season is in full swing, full of cheerful music, delicious food, shopping adventures and of course... chaotic schedules. Over the past several years, I've deemed the few weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas as the "Christmas Chaos." I love this season but also struggle to keep a level head as my days seem to get more and more busy leading up to the Christmas holiday.  As much as I'm looking forward to taking two weeks off and enjoying several days in Cancun, I can't help but be a bit overwhelmed in trying to wrap up all of our clients' quarter's plans and prep and roadmap out next quarter's strategies.  I know I can burn out when I push myself like this but I also feel incredibly guilty when I say no to people. Marcella and I used today's episode as a little bit of a therapy session to help coach me on how to say no without feeling so guilty and why it's so important I follow through in doing so. Note - To help combat the Christmas Chaos, Creator's Block will be moving to bi-weekly publications for a little while.

The conversation of creativity vs. function is not a new one in the design world, but today as I was browsing medium I stumbled across an article on the subject that really ruffled my feathers (to put it lightly). Boris Müller, a Professor of Interaction Design at FH Potsdam, published a BOLD article that poses the question “Why Do All Websites Look the Same?” and even suggests that “The internet suffers from a lack of imagination”. Which, WOW… fatalist outlook much? Müller postures that the internet has become a desolate wasteland of boring design (okay maybe he didn’t say it quite so dramatically) based in part largely CMS and blogging platforms.  As a counter argument he highlights some examples of his students’ work that he thinks demonstrates truly “creative” design. I have a big issue with this. The designs he highlights completely disregard function and audience and seem to solely be driven by designing for the sake of design. Which, to me, is not web design. In our industry we MUST be aware of audience and a site SHOULD serve a purpose.  Without purpose a page is not functional design, but simply an art piece. Join Justine and I as I huff and puff over what makes web design truly good and how far SHOULD we push creativity vs. function.

This morning I read an article from Jason Zimdars, a designer at basecamp, about why he actually works from home. Spoiler alert, it wasn’t about productivity at all, but rather about the practical reasons that we can sometimes take for granted. Jason talks about the ways it allows him to spend more time with his kids and how those moments can be looked at as happy distractions and it got me thinking about the real reasons I’ve been working from home as well.  Most of you know that I work full time remote, despite only being about 35 minutes from our office. Why work remote you say? Lots of reasons.  For me working from home means: I get a little bit more sleep in the morning… and I LOVE my sleep. 

With IMPACT growing and changing so quickly comes many new roles and opportunities for advancements, changes, and promotions. Which of course makes many of us here wonder are we ready for a new role? Is this the career path I want? If I don’t put myself up for consideration will it reflect poorly on me? I have personally struggled with this as a designer. I know that moving up in the ranks as a designer means you may not be as hands on as you would like. You may be spending less time physically designing and more time taking care of the administrative side. Is the trade-off worth it? Will this fulfill my creative passions? And the most important question... will I still be HAPPY in my job? When you’re up for consideration it can stir up a lot of feelings and internal monologues that you may not necessarily have the answers to. Join us this week, as Justine and I try to tackle that inner monologue and discuss how to make the best decision for a career move.

I'm sure we've all been there before -- you presented an amazing idea to your client, agreed on next steps and then while in the midst of the project, get news that something needs to change or an item wasn't approved by the right person, sending your project into a tailspin. How do you communicate they don't have the budget to redo the work? Will the account be at risk if the client doesn't take the news well? Tough conversations like these can be the most stressful part your job. After 8 years managing projects and working for various agencies, I can confidently say following this five-step process will guarantee effective communication to help get you through these harder conversations. Listen in and Marcella and I discuss how to have tough but effective conversations with clients and clearly outline our five-step process to follow during your call.

The designers have been having lots of brainstorm meetings lately where we basically all hop on a call and look at a ton of different websites. The purpose of this being to find things we like or think are cool and new to incorporate into our own designs. I know what you’re thinking, “You just STEAL from other website designs?!”. Not quite, we take these things and try to improve them in some way. This is a common practice among designers and creatives alike. We’re always on the hunt for inspiration for an original idea. A simple search for the term “originality” on medium shows that about half the articles seem to be focused on the death of of originality or how it no longer truly exists. Michael Riley writes - “The way you become original is through imitation to some degree. When starting out as a creator, your work is likely going to largely reflect the ideas of your influences. That’s how you find your voice. The more you make things, the more your voice will become a collection of those influences and start to feel unique. … When that happens, you’ll rely less on the inputs you’re getting from your influences and more on your own original thoughts.” Going through art school I became acutely aware of this idea. In almost every class I took we were learning through copying someone else’s work. We copied masters, we copied amateurs, we copied random google image searches. This was how we learned. With each copy I did a slowly started to see my own hand shine through. It was no longer just a copy, but a great idea that I started to shape into my own great idea. This week Justine and I discuss the paradox of originality. Does originality truly exist or are we all just really good copycats?

I recently took Friday off for a personal mental health day to reset and recharge. The past few months have been some of the most rewarding and challenging I've experienced in my career so far as I adjusted to my new role as Account Supervisor. I entered a new world of management that I wasn't previously familiar with. Though I've accomplished a lot over these months, it certainly hasn't been easy and over the past few weeks I started to feel like I wasn't doing my job well enough. Self-doubt is something I've struggled with over the years so I knew when Marcella recommended me to read You Are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life, it was exactly what I needed. Author Jen Sincero provides a witty approach to learning how to love yourself and attracting the people and energy you need in life in order to embrace your inner badass. The book starts off with some high-level, feel-good advice but eventually taps into actionable takeaways you can incorporate into your every day. A few of my favorite messages and exercises include: Make enjoying your life a priority Ditch the self-deprecating humor Forgive yourself Take advantage of opportunities when they present themselves Find a cause you care about and give to it every month (however you can, whether by money or time!) Compliment your peers and others Though these may seem obvious to you, I promise that the sentiments go much deeper. Listen to Marcella and I discuss these topics and more in this week's episode of Creator's Block!

As many of you may know, Marcella and I love to talk about our varying yet similar personalities -- how can we both be Aries and yet so different?! -- so it should come as no surprise that I wanted to dive in deeper with her to see where she felt she fell on the personality spectrum. Were we introverts, extroverts or ambiverts? What do the personality types even mean? And how do they relate to our work productivity? After doing research and taking way too many online personality tests, we both confirmed that we were indeed ambiverts -- along with 68% of the population. The more I researched, the more fascinated I became with how our personality types influence our work. For example: Ambiverts make really great sales people because of their ability to adapt and relate to both the boisterous extroverts and thoughtful introverts. Open office floor plans can be a detriment for introverts but perfect for extroverts. Extroverts excel in being able to jump back and forth between different meetings or tasks but can fail to set boundaries and avoid burnout Psychologist Adam Grant said "To work well with other people, you need to understand their personalities and they need to understand yours." This is so true whether you're trying to work with your colleagues or your clients. Join Marcella and I as we discuss how the three different personality types can be more productive by leaning into their strengths and overcoming their weaknesses.

So we’ve talked about how to balance your personal life and your professional life and make them work like yin and yang, but it wasn’t until earlier this week that I really started to think about one of the most important parts of making that work… my work family. Not to get into great detail here, but I have been feeling not quite right lately. I’ve been having trouble focusing and getting my head right, beyond the usual 3pm blues. From the get go I immediately went to a couple of my closest coworkers for support. These people not only helped me logistically but rearranging my schedule and work, but also emotionally. Just like family would. This really got me thinking about how lucky I am to have coworkers and managers that I trust enough to share these parts of my life. Lucky not only that they are understanding as my team, but that they genuinely care about me as a person. ...and I’m not alone! 83% of U.S. employees say their work family makes them feel happier and a survey  of 1,000 full time workers ages 18-65 found that having a familial relationship with coworkers boosts productivity and feelings of well-being in the workplace. So this week, Justine and I are talking about something I think is not being discussed nearly enough, “The Work Family”.

We discussed some of our favorite (and not so favorite) productivity hacks in a previous episode, but one thing we didn't expound on is why being productive and time management is so important. Of course the obvious answer is to be able to accomplish your week's tasks, but it can actually run much deeper and effects more than just yourself. Are you managing your time effectively enough for your team's and client's success? What happens if your management falls short? To help us dive into the topic, we asked Karisa Egan -- an Account Executive with crazy good time management skills -- to join us this week. Here are her initial thoughts on the topic in her own words:  "Organization is a skill set that can really be a struggle for some people, for me it comes naturally, which can be a good thing, but also results in some obsessive tendencies. One way I’ve made this work for the job I do every day is make sure I organize my time efficiently and effectively. I use a variety of tactics to make sure I’m not letting myself or my team down and on the weeks that my organization falls are my most stressful weeks. Time management is a topic that’s unique to everyone and there are a million tips and tricks that we could share, some have even already been shared in this podcast,  to make sure you’re using your time effectively, but what we wanted to focus on today is how to make sure you’re holding yourself accountable when it comes to your time management." Join Marcella, Karisa and I discuss the importance of time management and holding yourself accountable in this week's episode!

Recently, I’ve been dealing with some personal matters that have taken up more time in my professional life. It's weeks like these that make me appreciative of the fact that I work remote. Knowing I can flex my work schedule -- to a certain degree -- in order to best fit what's happening in my life is something I don't take for granted.  I'll be honest though, I was hesitant and nervous when IMPACT first approached me about working remotely full time. I loved working in an office, brainstorming with colleagues and having friends to grab lunch or happy hour with. What would it be like to be alone, in my home, every day? Could I be productive? Would I be lonely? Would I get bored or lose my creativity? A recent study shows there's been a 115% increase in people telecommuting in the US over the last 10 years. Was I ready to become part of that statistic?  In time, I weighed my odds and decided to take the risk and see if remote work was a fit for me -- And boy, am I glad I did. Overall, I love working remotely, and the flexibility and freedom of my schedule is just one reason why. However, there are plenty of days where I just don't feel "on."  With no one around me to hold me accountable in doing my job, I realize now it is more important than ever to find ways to reignite my creative spark and ensure I'm able to deliver quality work. Join Marcella and I as we discuss how we combat the remote working blues to keep that creative spark alive in this week's episode. 

As some of you may already know, I'm a struggling perfectionist when it comes to work. I always want to do tasks perfectly, the first time, every time -- but, as we all know, that's not realistic. Failing, whether at work or in my personal life, used to be something that crippled me.  Over time, though, I learned to appreciate my failures -- every single one of them. Whether I messed up with a small task or failed on a larger scale, I gained more insight and direction from those mistakes than I ever will reading a book or attending a webinar. So, why are we so afraid to admit our failures? There was a recent post in IMPACT Elite where a member detailed a mistake she made at work and felt she let her team down because of it. She asked other members for "some encouragement and a quick pat on the back saying, 'its ok, it happens, it's not the end of the world, everything is ok.'" I was actually humbled by the number of responses people shared, explaining how we are all in the same boat. It was encouraging to hear other people's experiences. Those simple reminders that you're not alone, others have gone through similar instances. Though it's at first scary, owning and sharing your failures actually ends up building a stronger culture and relationship. How so? Listen to this week's episode as special guest -- and Creator's Block founder -- Liz Murphy and I discuss some of our biggest failures and how to change the negative experience into a success story.

I’ve actually been struggling through this week after getting back from vacation. I returned with a glowing tan and equally glowing optimism, but I quickly found myself in a productivity slump. I was easily distracted and it seemed like every day I had more and more external forces pulling me away from the work that I really, really needed to get done. Feeling fully over-extended and realizing I couldn’t keep going at the rate that I was going, I turned to the internet to fill me with it’s endless wisdom. As always I was not disappointed by the results. Now, it’s been a while since we’ve found a really juicy list to tear to shreds (and I know this is really the only reason you guys keep listening to us). So this week I’ve found a couple articles about the highly sought after “Productivity Hacks”, but here’s a plot twist… I don’t actually hate all of them. Join me and Justine, as we break down some of the best and worst productivity hacks the internet has to offer.

Over the past week, I've enjoyed stalking Marcella's Instagram posts to live vicariously through her while she enjoyed a week beach vacation. Though I'm always happy for my friends and coworkers when I see their vacation posts, I can't help but feel that ping of jealousy knowing I have a week of work ahead of me when they have a week of lounging and relaxation. This got me thinking: how often am I comparing my life to others? Do I live too much in a negative state, diminishing my life moments when I see others sharing seemingly perfect moments? Comparing yourself to others (or even to the ideal version of yourself) is oftentimes rooted in insecurity and jealousy, but it also seems to happen on a daily basis. Is there a way to avoid or change this way of thinking? Is it possible to have a positive experience when comparing yourself to others? How do we overcome comparing ourselves to our colleagues? In this episode of Creator's Block, Marcella, and I navigate through these questions and more.

Have you ever had a challenging week only to realize later that the conversations and obstacles you faced pushed you to do and be better? This was one of those weeks for me. I've had some tough conversations with team members both on and off my POD, and while it's never fun to have challenging discussions, I know we’re growing because of it. I’ve mentioned on past episodes before but I recently moved into a managerial role as Account Supervisor, managing a team of 6 Account Executives. Since I was an Account Executive before, I feel I have a deeper connection and compassion to the issues and concerns they face. That doesn't automatically make me a good manager though. Having an honest and true connection with your manager where you can share your thoughts and feel like you're making a difference doesn't happen overnight. It's something we all must work towards. I recall the days of feeling like my voice wasn't being heard and questioned whether I was truly valued in my role and at my company. We're fortunate here at IMPACT because we are provided with trainings and resources to coach us on how to effectively communicate with all team members. Marcella, Vin and I discuss what we've learned to help ensure you can speak with your manager and have your voice heard. Because after all, I truly believe it's because of tough and honest conversations that I am stronger and more confident in my current role -- ultimately enabling me to lead a team myself.

As I write this, we’re exactly one day after the wrap of IMPACT Live 2018. It’s been a crazy couple days and I honestly feel like I could sleep for 48 hours and still be tired. However, one of my favorite parts of IMPACT Live is that I basically have no choice but to unplug from work and actually focus on some professional development (PD). One of the great things about our culture at IMPACT is we are encouraged to work on our own professional development, especially through events. To be frank, IMPACT Live is a big investment for our company. It's all hands on deck and we all have assigned roles, but we're also there to learn and absorb as much as possible. I was able to sit in on most sessions and I not only felt like I was learning, but like I was recharging my passion-o-meter. One of my favorites was on Sonic Branding with David Meerman Scott and Juanito Pascual, which basically is how music can serve your brand. (How cool is that?!) This all was a welcome intervention for me, because I am actually REALLY bad at doing professional development on my own. It's not for a lack of desire or passion; I’ve got lists of articles, books, online courses, and even a Google calendar reminder recurring DAILY to get me going, but when push comes to shove, the first thing to get pushed in a client crunch is this time I’ve set aside. This week’s episode is going to be a little bit of the blind leading the blind, but Justine typically has it all figured out so, I’m hoping she can magically fix all my problems here. How do you make time for professional development? What tools do you use to help you? Let us know in the comments!

Recording this week's episode with Marcella was extra special because we were able to record it together, in person! As a remote employee at IMPACT, I only get to come to Connecticut and see my fellow IMPACTers a few times a year. The annual August trip has easily turned into my favorite because it's IMPACT Live week. (For those of you who don't know, IMPACT hosts a two-day event where marketing and sales leaders come together to learn, collaborate, and make valuable connections.) The week is action-packed with amazing events, learning sessions, and happy hours, but that also means we're all a little tight on time when it comes to our traditional work activities and responsibilities. Marcella and I started chatting about what the best "time savers" were and there was one thing we both kept bringing up: templates. Now, templates can be an array of things -- from templated website pages to playbooks for ABM strategy. Listen in as Marcella and I discuss the pros and cons of templated work! What kind of templates do you use? Let me know in the comments!

For decades, we’ve been told that positive thinking is the key to a happy, rich life. "F**k positivity," Mark Manson says. "Let’s be honest, shit is f**ked and we have to live with it." In his wildly popular Internet blog, Manson doesn’t sugarcoat or equivocate. He tells it like it is—a dose of raw, refreshing, honest truth that is sorely lacking today. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**k is his antidote to the coddling, let’s-all-feel-good mindset that has infected modern society and spoiled a generation, rewarding them with gold medals just for showing up

All work and no play makes marketers and creatives dull guys and gals, right? Well, actually, it's a lot more than that. This week, Justine & Marcella unpack how to avoid burning out at work, when everything gets to be too much. 

The past couple months have been very exciting for me at IMPACT as I transitioned to a new role of Account Supervisor. In addition to being the point person for a select few clients, I now manage a team of six Account Executives.  Without even realizing it, this new role and added responsibility has been something I've been working towards for a while now, all stemming to what I consider my passion in my career: helping people.  Though "helping people" is a super generic passion to claim, it's something that encompasses so many aspects of my life. But determining that passion, honestly, has not come easy... and that's OK.  All too often we are pressured to follow our dreams and pursue our passions, but what happens when we don't really know what our passion is? My first job out of college was as a copyeditor for a small shopper marketing agency where I worked on in-store offers for Kraft Foods. Though I learned a lot in this role, I will never forget the day my Mom asked me how things we're going and I broke down in tears saying "I will never care enough about macaroni and cheese!" I realized I lacked passion and actually questioned if I would ever find it in my career.  Though that was a scary realization, it taught me how to be successful in the moment and identify my passion later in life.  Join Marcella and I as we navigate the rocky road of finding passion in your career and explain why it's OK to not always have one particular passion defined. 

The previous version of this episode was corrupted, and we sincerely apologize for that. This is a big week for Creator's Block. In fact, it's quite a milestone for myself and the podcast.  In a couple of weeks, Creator's Block will return (on July 17, to be precise), just in time to celebrate its second anniversary. But I will not be returning with it, as Marcella's co-host.  While it's bittersweet for me to leave the podcast I founded two years ago over lunch with Jessie-Lee, I'm excited to share the reason for my departure.  On July 11, the premiere episode of the Content Lab -- hosted by yours truly -- will be launching as a new weekly podcast for IMPACT. (Click that fancy link to learn more about my new show and to subscribe to updates!) But my departure also brings with it an exciting announcement -- a new co-host. Justine Timoteo! In fact, given that it was her first episode, Justine got to pick our topic. And it was a great one. In her words, here is what we talked about this week: "Improving my overall health is my biggest goal for 2018, and a huge part of that is my mental health. Mental health is so intertwined with physical health but can oftentimes be overlooked -- people tend to focus a lot more on diet and exercise. For me, mental health is how I’m doing emotionally, psychologically, and socially. Back in January, I realized I was suffering from severe stress and after having my first panic attack, decided to take things seriously and be proactive in seeking help and working to improve my mental health. Though mental health seems like a heavy topic, it’s all too common and if we continue to talk about it often or address it, (hopefully) there will be less of a stigma." So, this week, that's what we're unpacking. How do you handle and manage stress in the workplace, or when work is causing unreasonable amounts of stress and anxiety that leaks into your personal life?

Ah, work-life balance. It's kind of like parenting and finding true love -- everyone has an opinion about it.  "There's no such thing as work-life balance, only work-life blend." "There's no such thing as work-life balance, only LIFE!" "You can only spend X number of hours a day doing work, without ruining your personal life." "If you're not committing X number of hours to work, is it even worth doing or being passionate about?" The sheer number of opinions about work-life balance can be exhausting to sift through. It's unfortunate since it's a necessary conversation, given that remote workforces and having clients that span the globe are much more commonplace, making it harder and harder to "punch out" at 5 p.m., on the dot.  So, this week, we invited our very own Director of Strategic Partnerships Vin Gaeta back to the podcast to unpack this popular topic. (He recently just got married and has a little baby girl on the way, so he had a lot of great thoughts about finding that perfect balance.) Enjoy! 

I don’t know how it happened, but I sneezed and somehow we’re now weeks away from the end of yet another quarter -- and not just any quarter. The second quarter. Which means we’re almost halfway through the entire year. WHAT?! While I’d love to say that I’ve got all my ducks in a row, and all of my plans to "crush my goals" or whatever are going along swimmingly, I would be lying. Here’s the thing though. Now that the finish line is in sight, I’ve noticed a lot of people saying, “I don’t have time for this, I don’t have time for that” -- myself included, I’m not immune -- in a way that makes me wonder if that’s really the case. Do we really not have enough time?  It doesn’t matter if it’s crunch time or a slow down period, time is a commodity that’s always in short supply. And while there are definitely instances where I genuinely, in good faith, do not have the time I thought I would have, I don’t think we’re always willing to admit with how much control we do have over our own schedules. If I'm being honest with myself about my own behavior, I believe that sometimes we make the choice to not make the time for a task, no matter how big or small we think that task is. I’m tired of hearing myself say, "I don't have time," when I probably do. Moreover, I’m tired of others saying it to me, when they want to offload a content project or something else that no longer fits in with what they want to be doing.  So, this week, Marcella and I are taking a stand. It's time for this cycle of kicking the proverbial can down the road to end. How do we stop lying to ourselves about how much time we do and do not have to get our work done?

One of our long-time listeners, Frances Bowman, reached out to us awhile back with a request -- to talk more about how to give good feedback to creative marketing pros like us.  While we've dipped our toe into this topic before, her note got me thinking about one of the most challenging instances of when knowing how to give good creative feedback matters the most.  How do you give effective feedback to your marketing creative -- whether that's a designer, developer, or a copy nerd like myself -- when they give you a draft that is below the quality or caliber of what you were expecting?  Because it doesn't matter why it happened, ultimately. You're still faced with the situation of course-correcting the creative project in front of you and providing constructive feedback without blowing up your relationship with that creative -- or your agency, if that's your creative setup. So, this week, that's exactly what we're going to do. Instead of talking to creatives like us, we're talking to the marketers, the leaders, and the collaborators that have to work with us. Enjoy! (And thanks for the topic idea, Frances!)